Three or so years ago, Sbtrkt was one of the producers helping to rescue British dance floors from the all-engulfing blob that was dubstep, which had foregone nuance and become a brutal machine. By contract, Sbtrkt was a deconstructor, a musician who wanted to show off small flourishes, not grand gestures.

That he would go on to make one of the most unlikely soul albums in recent memory is a testament to his skill, and to his tenacity, even with no real enemy to war against.

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A masked Aaron Jerome, known as Sbtrkt, on Sunday.CreditByron Smith for The New York Times

“Wonder Where We Land” (Young Turks) is his second full-length album, and is far more idiosyncratic than his 2011 self-titled debut.

Sometimes it feels like a restrained take on modern British soul as refracted through the lens of scarred electronic music. And sometimes it feels like a time capsule from the early 1980s, just after no wave, just after Kraftwerk bled into early hip-hop, just when the rhythms of 1970s soul were being stitched back together with bits and pieces of digital sound.

On Sunday night at Terminal 5, the first of a two-night stand, Sbtrkt (pronounced subtract; given name, Aaron Jerome) performed songs from both his albums. He wore one of his usual masks, which are typically modern takes on tribal designs, so his identity does not distract from the music. (At least one fan had a homage mask of his own.) That meant that for an hour and a half, he shuffled back and forth among about a dozen keyboards and other instruments, including a theremin, remaking his music live.

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Ezra Koenig lending vocals to a track from Sbtrkt’s new album.CreditByron Smith for The New York Times

Admittedly, there wasn’t much to look at: The frenetic energy undoubtedly required to build this music live wasn’t fully telegraphed in the presentation, which had some visuals thrown up against a rear screen and some dancing lights, but nothing on a scale grand enough to distract from the music. Sbtrkt was flanked by James Holdom on drums and Fabiana Palladino on keyboards (and percussion, when needed), who both helped give his sound the scale that it sometimes lacks on record but was needed in this largish room.

One of Sbtrkt’s gifts is his savvy taste in vocalists to complement his very particular production style. He was one of the first to work with the elegant soul siren Jessie Ware, and many of his signature songs have been with Sampha, who sings as if weeping into a pillow. Sampha is the most present on this new album, too, singing on four songs, most notably “Temporary View” and the shadow-of-the-Caribbean funk of “Gon Stay.”

So it was quenching when Sbtrkt was joined onstage by some of the vocalists from the album, though, unfortunately, not Sampha or Raury, whose skittish raps on “Higher” are among the album’s high points. Denai Moore came out to sing “The Light,” and Ezra Koenig came out for “New Dorp. New York.”

Sbtrkt is astute enough to see Mr. Koenig not just as the frontman of one of the most well-regarded indie-rock bands of recent years, Vampire Weekend, but also as a singer who deploys rhythm with ease and aplomb. Mr. Koenig’s verses are narratively coherent, and also joyfully percussive. The interplay between the two performers was jovial. Three decades ago, that song might have given way to one by James Chance and the Contortions, or Coati Mundi, or Talking Heads, or Rammellzee.